Hosea 1–4

CHAPTER 1

Hosea’s Wife and Children

¹The word of ¹Yahweh which came to ^aHosea the son of Beeri, in the days of ^bUzziah, ^cJotham, ^dAhaz, and ^eHezekiah, kings of Judah, and in the days of ^fJeroboam the son of Joash, king of Israel.

²When Yahweh first spoke through Hosea, Yahweh said to Hosea, “^aGo, take for yourself a wife of harlotry and have children of harlotry; for ^bthe land commits flagrant harlotry, ¹forsaking Yahweh.”

³So he went and took Gomer the daughter of Diblaim, and she conceived and ^agave birth to a son for him.

⁴And Yahweh said to him, “Name him ^aJezreel; for yet a little while, and ^bI will visit the bloodshed of Jezreel upon the house of Jehu, and ^cI will cause the kingdom of the house of Israel to cease.

⁵“And it will be in that day, that I will ^abreak the bow of Israel in the ^bvalley of Jezreel.”

⁶Then she conceived again and gave birth to a daughter. And ¹Yahweh said to him, “Name her ²Lo-ruhamah, for I will no longer ^ahave compassion on the house of Israel, that I would ever forgive them.

⁷“But I will have ^acompassion on the house of Judah and ^bsave them by Yahweh their God, and I will not save them by ^cbow, sword, battle, horses, or horsemen.”

⁸Then she weaned Lo-ruhamah. And she conceived and gave birth to a son.

⁹And ¹Yahweh said, “Name him ²Lo-ammi, for you are not My people, and I am not ³your God.”

¹⁰¹Yet the number of the sons of Israel

Will be like the ^asand of the sea,

Which cannot be measured or numbered;

And it will be that ^bin the place

Where it is said to them,

“You are ^cnot My people,”

It will be said to them,

“You are the ^dsons of the living God.”

¹¹And the ^asons of Judah and the sons of Israel will be ^bgathered together,

And they will set for themselves ^cone head,

And they will go up from the land,

For great will be the day of Jezreel.

CHAPTER 2

No Compassion for Children of Harlotry

¹¹Say to your brothers, “²Ammi,” and to your sisters, “³Ruhamah.”

²“Contend with your mother, ^acontend,

For she is ^bnot my wife, and I am not her husband;

And let her remove her ^charlotry from her face

And her adultery from between her breasts,

³Lest I strip her ^anaked

And set her forth as on the ^bday when she was born

And ^cmake her like a wilderness

And ¹make her like dry land

And put her to death with ^dthirst.

⁴“Also, I will have no compassion on her children

Because they are ^achildren of harlotry.

⁵“For their mother has ^aplayed the harlot;

She who conceived them has acted shamefully.

For she said, ‘^bI will go after my lovers,

Who ^cgive me my bread and my water,

My wool and my flax, my ^doil and my drink.’

⁶“Therefore, behold, I will ^ahedge up ¹her way with ^bthorns,

And I will build ²a wall against her so that she cannot find her ^cpaths.

⁷“So she will ^apursue her lovers, but she will not overtake them;

And she will seek them, but will not find them.

Then she will say, ‘^bI will go, and I will return to my ^cfirst husband,

For it was ^dbetter for me then than now!’

⁸“Now she does ^anot know that it was ^bI who gave her the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

And multiplied silver and gold for her,

Which they ¹used for Baal.

⁹“Therefore, I will ^atake back My grain at ¹harvest time

And My new wine in its season.

I will also deliver My wool and My flax from them

Given to cover her nakedness.

¹⁰“So now I will ^auncover her lewdness

In the sight of her lovers,

And no one will deliver her out of My hand.

¹¹“I will also ^acease all her joy,

Her ^bfeasts, her ^cnew moons, her sabbaths,

And all her appointed times.

¹²“And I will ^amake desolate her vines and fig trees,

Of which she said, ‘These are my wages

Which my lovers have given me.’

And I will ^bmake them a forest,

And the ^cbeasts of the field will devour them.

¹³“So I will visit the ^adays of the Baals upon her

When she used to ^1boffer offerings in smoke to them

And ^cadorn herself with her ²earrings and jewelry

And go after her lovers, so that she ^dforgot Me,” declares Yahweh.

Yahweh’s Faithful Betrothal

¹⁴“Therefore, behold, I will allure her

^aAnd bring her into the wilderness

And speak to her heart.

¹⁵“Then I will give her her ^avineyards from there

And ^bthe valley of Achor as a door of hope.

And she will ^1csing there as in the days of her youth,

As in the ^dday when she came up from the land of Egypt.

¹⁶“And it will be in that day,” declares Yahweh,

“That you will call Me ^1aIshi

And will no longer call Me ²Baali.

¹⁷“So ^aI will remove the names of the Baals from her mouth

So that they will be remembered by their names no more.

¹⁸“And in that day I will cut a covenant for them

With the ^abeasts of the field,

The birds of the sky,

And the creeping things of the ground.

And I will ^bbreak the bow, the sword, and war from the land,

And I will make them ^clie down in security.

¹⁹“And I will ^abetroth you to Me forever;

Indeed, I will betroth you to Me in ^brighteousness and in justice,

In lovingkindness and in compassion,

²⁰And I will betroth you to Me in faithfulness.

Then you will ^aknow Yahweh.

²¹“And it will be in that day, that ^aI will answer,” declares Yahweh.

“I will answer the heavens, and they will answer the earth,

²²And the ^aearth will answer the grain, the new wine, and the oil,

And they will answer ¹Jezreel.

²³“And I will ^asow her for Myself in the land.

^bI will also have compassion on ¹her who had not obtained compassion,

And ^cI will say to ²those who were ^dnot My people,

‘You are My people!’

And ³they will say, ‘You are my God!’”

CHAPTER 3

Hosea Marries Again

¹Then Yahweh said to me, “Go again, love a ¹woman who is loved by her companion and is an adulteress, even ^aas Yahweh loves the sons of Israel, though they turn to other gods and love raisin ^bcakes.”

²So I ^abargained for her for myself for fifteen ¹shekels of silver and a ²homer and a ³half of barley.

³Then I said to her, “You shall ^astay with me for many days. You shall not play the harlot, nor shall you have a ¹man; so I will also be toward you.”

⁴For the sons of Israel will remain for many days ^awithout king or prince, ^bwithout sacrifice or sacred ^cpillar, and without ^dephod or ^1ehousehold idols.

⁵Afterward the sons of Israel will ^areturn and seek Yahweh their God and ^bDavid their king; and ^cthey will come ¹in dread to Yahweh and to His goodness in the last days.

CHAPTER 4

Yahweh’s Contention with Israel

^1aListen to the word of Yahweh, O sons of Israel,

For Yahweh has a ^bcontention against the inhabitants of the land,

Because there is ^cno truth or ¹lovingkindness

Or ^dknowledge of God in the land.

²There is ^aswearing of oaths, ^bdeception, ^cmurder, ^dstealing, and ^eadultery.

They break forth in violence so that ^fbloodshed ¹follows bloodshed.

³Therefore the land ^amourns,

And everyone who inhabits it languishes

Along with the beasts of the field and the birds of the sky,

And also the fish of the sea ¹disappear.

⁴Yet let no man ^acontend, and let no man offer reproof;

Indeed, your people are like those who ^bcontend with the priest.

⁵So you will ^astumble by day,

And the prophet also will stumble with you by night;

And I will destroy your ^bmother.

^6aMy people are destroyed for lack of knowledge.

Because you have ^brejected knowledge,

I also will ^creject you from ministering as My priest.

Since you have ^dforgotten the ^elaw of your God,

I Myself also will forget your children.

⁷The more they ^amultiplied, the more they sinned against Me;

I will ^bchange their glory into disgrace.

⁸They ^aeat the ¹sin of My people

And ^blift up ²their soul toward their iniquity.

⁹And it will be like people, ^alike priest;

So I will ^bpunish them for their ways

And cause their deeds to return to them.

^10aThey will eat, but not be satisfied;

They will ^bplay the harlot, but not break forth in number,

Because they have ^1cforsaken Yahweh to keep harlotry.

¹¹Harlotry, ^awine, and new wine take away a heart of wisdom.

¹²My people ^aask their wooden idol, and their diviner’s wand declares to them;

For a spirit of harlotry has led them astray,

And they have played the harlot, departing ¹from their God.

¹³They offer sacrifices on the ^atops of the mountains

And ^1bburn incense on the hills,

^cUnder oak, poplar, and terebinth

Because their shade is good.

Therefore your daughters play the harlot,

And your ²brides commit adultery.

¹⁴I will not punish your daughters when they play the harlot

Or your ¹brides when they commit adultery,

For the men themselves go apart with harlots

And offer sacrifices with ^acult prostitutes;

So the people without understanding are ²ruined.

¹⁵Though you, Israel, play the harlot,

Do not let Judah become guilty;

Also do not go to ^aGilgal

Nor go up to Beth-aven

^bAnd swear the oath:

“As Yahweh lives!”

¹⁶Since Israel is ^astubborn

Like a stubborn heifer,

¹Can Yahweh now ^bfeed them

Like a lamb in a large field?

¹⁷Ephraim is joined to ^aidols;

^bLet him alone.

¹⁸Their drink gone;

They play the harlot continually;

^aTheir ¹rulers dearly love disgrace.

^19aThe wind binds them up in its wings,

And they will be ashamed because of their sacrifices.